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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Motion pictures Australia'
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1
Reid, Mary Anne. "Success factors in Australian cinema in the 1990s." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2000.
Find full textAbstract:
The main body of this research thesis employs a combination of case study and national data to discuss the concept of 'success' in relation to the Australian film industry in the 1990s. Faced with the problem of measuring 'success', my approach has been to apportion success into 'commercial' and 'critical', in relation to three Australian films - Muriel's Wedding, Love And Other Catastrophes and Kiss or Kill - each of which is considered to have been successful in one way or another. The purpose of these case studies is to demonstrate that films can be successful at different levels - niche or mainstream - and that in commercial terms, 'successful for whom?' depends on where one stands in the long chain of creators, marketers and exhibitor/broadcasters of a single film.
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Crilly, Shane. ""Gods in our own world" representations of troubled and troubling masculinities in some Australian films, 1991-2001 /." Connect to this title online, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/37939.
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The dominance of male characters in Australian films makes our national cinema a rich resource for the examination of the construction of masculinities. This thesis argues that the codes of the hegemonic masculinities in capitalist patriarchal societies like Australia insist on an absolute masculine position. However, according to Oedipal logic, this position always belongs to another man. Masculine yet 'feminised,'identity is fraught with anxiety but sustained by the 'dominant fiction' that equates the penis with the phallus and locates the feminine as its polar opposite. This binary relationship is inaugurated in childhood when a boy must distinguish his identity from his mother, who, significantly, is a different gender. Being masculine means not being feminine. However, as much as men strive towards inhabiting the masculine position completely, this masquerade will always be exposed by the elements associated with femininity that are an inevitable part of the human experience. Yet, the more men are drawn to the feminine, the more they risk losing their masculine integrity altogether under the patriarchal gaze. Men, in this dualistic regime, are condemned to negotiate their identity haunted by the promises of the phallus and the fear of its loss. I begin with a model of masculine integrity represented in the image of an ideal father, Darryl Kerrigan, from The Castle and then proceed to problematise it through an examination of its excesses observed in the father of David Helfgott in Shine. In the second chapter I investigate two films that represent mothers as the principal threat to masculine integrity: Death in Brunswick and Proof. Both films reveal a misogynistic impetus, which is expressed as violence against women in The Boys, the sole focus of my middle chapter. With misogyny and violence still resonating, I follow the contours of my argument through an examination of Chopper and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in the fourth chapter, where I emphasise the performative nature of identity, before arriving at a discussion of men and their relationships in the final chapter (Mullet, Praise, and Thank God He Met Lizzie).Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Humanities, 2004.
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Athique, Adrian Mabbott. "Non-resident cinema transnational audiences for Indian films /." Access electronically, 2005. http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/public/adt-NWU20060511.140513/index.html.
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Peach, Ricardo. "Queer cinema as a fifth cinema in South Africa and Australia." University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2100/425.
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Australia had the world’s first gay film festival at the Sydney Filmmakers Co-op in June 1976, part of a larger commemoration of the Stonewall Riots in New York City of 1969. In 1994, South Africa became the first country in the world to prohibit discrimination in its constitution on the basis of sexual orientation, whilst allowing for positive discrimination to benefit persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. South Africa and Australia, both ex-British colonies, are used in this analysis to explore the way local Queer Cinematic Cultures have negotiated and continue to negotiate dominant social forces in post-colonial settings. It is rare to have analyses of Queer Cinematic Cultures and even rarer to have texts dealing with cultures outside those of Euro-America. This study offers a unique window into the formations of Queer Cinematic Cultures of two nations of the ‘South’. It reveals important new information on how sexual minorities from nations outside the Euro-American sphere have dealt with and continue to deal with longstanding Queer cinematic oppressions. A pro-active relationship between Queer representation in film and social-political action is considered by academics such as Dennis Altman to be essential for significant social and judicial change. The existence of Queer and other independent films in Sydney from the 1960s onward, impacted directly on sexuality, race and gender activism. In South Africa, the first major Queer film festival, The Out In Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in 1994, was instrumental in developing and maintaining a post-Apartheid Queer public sphere which fostered further legal change. Given the significant histories of activism through Queer Cinematic Cultures in both Australia and South Africa, I propose in this thesis the existence of a new genus of cinema, which I term Fifth Cinema. Fifth Cinema includes Feminist Cinema, Queer Cinema and Immigrant/Multicultural Cinema and deals with the oppressions which cultures engage with within their own cultural boundaries. It can be informed by First Cinema (classical, Hollywood), Second Cinema (Art House or dual national cinemas), Third and Fourth Cinema (cinemas dealing with the decolonisation of Third World and Fourth World people), but it develops its unique characteristics by countering internal cultural colonisation. Fifth Cinema functions as a heterognosis, where multi-dimensional representations around sexuality, race and gender are used to assist in broader cultural liberation.
5
Emerson, John. "The representation of the colonial past in French and Australian cinema, from 1970 to 2000 /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 2002. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phe536.pdf.
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Boden, Susan, and n/a. "'an unsettled state': the real and the imainary in Australian cinematic and designed landscapes." University of Canberra. Design, 2002. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20060426.161116.
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This thesis considers varied representations of landscape in
Australian narrative film and designed landscape. Landscape is
taken as an active concept that combines the associative meanings
of place and the dynamism of space. Sixteen film and designed
landscapes are examined to derive their landscape sources, forms
and ideas, using the methodology of 'contextual poetics', Each of
these landscapes is considered under a specific theme: landscape as
delight, absence, nation or hope.
In addition to detailing specific landscape responses by the
designers of the examined landscapes, this project aims to
contribute to an enhanced conversation about the effective, just
practice of landscape architecture.
The topic derives from a question central to landscape architectural
practice in a post-colonial context, such as Australia. In a cultural
setting where no single, agreed definition of landscape is allowed
by the conditions of its history, which versions do practitioners of
landscape architecture take up? What should be their limits, where
are their inspirations and whose landscape narratives are ignored in
these decisions?
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Weightman, Elise. "The mirror has many faces : an exploration of women's aesthetics in contemporary mainstream Australia." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1999.
Find full textAbstract:
This thesis investigates the concept of "women's aesthetics", as distinct from "feminine" or "feminist" aesthetics, asserting that an original and liberated women's film practice and spectatorship may be realised, in the late 1990s, by reinterpreting women's aesthetics as diverse social and artistic processes. Aesthetic concepts such as pleasure, value, art and sensory experience are also
tested in this study to establish their relevance to feminist discourses on film, the wider culture and society. The study also argues that the aesthetics of Australian women filmmakers working in mainstream cinema may be
characterised by certain social and artistic processes. Further, it is suggested that these women achieve a more liberated and empowered artistic practice through their distinctive and personal explorations of particular aesthetic processes. Through case studies of films by Gillian Armstrong, Jane Campion, Samantha Lang and Rachel Perkins, certain characteristics of women's aesthetics are
identified, and their power and relevance for Australian women filmmakers are evaluated. While focusing its investigation on the concept of "women's aesthetics", this
study also interrogates recent and seminal feminist film theory as well as the historical development of Australian national cinema, establishing a context and justification for the exploration of women's aesthetics. The revised, inclusive concept of women's aesthetics is then applied to a
practical project, in which my own artistic processes are explored through the production of three short films. This practical component is reported and critiqued to establish the relevance of the concept of women's aesthetics to my
own film practice. Finally, this thesis concludes that the concept and practice of women's aesthetics as a negotiated process can be used to promote and develop a more relevant, political and productive relationship between women, mainstream cinema and the wider culture and society.
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Beeton, Sue 1956. "Film-induced tourism impacts and consequences." Monash University, National Centre for Australian Studies, 2002. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/7570.
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Enders, Michael Leonard. "Gettin' acquainted : film, ethnicity and Australian society." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1996. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36279/1/36279_Enders_1996.pdf.
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This thesis uses a cultural studies- based social- cultural- historical methodology to
compare changes in depictions of ethnicity in selected Australian feature films
produced from 1930 to 1995 to changes in Australian immigration policy over the
same period. The aim is to identify the relationship between feature film
depictions and the societies which produced them. The study will show that
depictions of ethnicity in Australian feature films have progressed through three
phases in line with the changes in Australian immigration policy from 'white
Australia' (1930-1946) to assimilation (194 7 -1971) to multiculturalism (1972-
present) .
The study also proposes a model of 'cultural absorption' as better alternative than
'reflection' to explain the means by which social-cultural beliefs and values are
transferred from society to feature films. The results of this study confirm that
the myths and social cultural beliefs and values of a society can be identified by
analysing the cultural artefacts, such as feature films, produced by that society.
This means that it is possible to identify the myths, beliefs and values of past
moments in Australian social history by analysing feature films produced by that
society. Identifying changes in society and culture and the mechanisms which
brought them about provides a means of better understanding contemporary
society and culture and how future changes may affect social and cultural
evolution.
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McKenzie, Susan M., and n/a. "Canadian and Australian Feature Film Policy in Perspective: A Comparative Study from 1968 to 1998." Griffith University. School of Arts, Media and Culture, 2004. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20040804.142852.
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This comparative study is an investigation into the changing concerns of feature film policy in Canada and Australia from 1968 to 1998. Its purpose is to determine how similar policy initiatives have produced divergent results in two economically, culturally and socially similar nations. The inquiry's aim is to establish what financial, political and geographic variables affect the application of feature film policy. While resemblances between these nations justify the contrasting of comparable feature film policy initiatives, differences in outcomes suggest that these nations are not entirely alike. Therefore, rather than following the leads of comparable national agencies, film policy makers in Canada and Australia need to concentrate on conditions specific to their own particular situation.
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McKenzie, Susan M. "Canadian and Australian Feature Film Policy in Perspective: A Comparative Study from 1968 to 1998." Thesis, Griffith University, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366616.
Full textAbstract:
This comparative study is an investigation into the changing concerns of feature film policy in Canada and Australia from 1968 to 1998. Its purpose is to determine how similar policy initiatives have produced divergent results in two economically, culturally and socially similar nations. The inquiry's aim is to establish what financial, political and geographic variables affect the application of feature film policy. While resemblances between these nations justify the contrasting of comparable feature film policy initiatives, differences in outcomes suggest that these nations are not entirely alike. Therefore, rather than following the leads of comparable national agencies, film policy makers in Canada and Australia need to concentrate on conditions specific to their own particular situation.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Arts, Media and Culture
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Smith, Keith. "Kodak's worst nightmare Super 8 in the digital age: A cultural history of Super 8 filmmaking in Australia 1965-2003." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2004. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1612.
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This project charts the extraordinary history of the Super 8 film medium, a popular amateur home movie format first introduced in 1965 and largely assumed to have disappeared with the advent of home video technologies in the early 1980's. Kodak's Worst Nightmare investigates the cultural history of the Super 8 medium with an emphasis on its (secret) life since 1986. lt asks how (and why) an apparently obsolete consumer technology has survived some 35 years into a digital future despite the emergence of technologically-advanced domestic video formats and Eastman Kodak's sustained attempts since the mid-80s to suppress, what is for it, a patently unprofitable product line. Informed by the work of Heath (1900), Zimmermann (1995), and Carroll (1996), this project takes the unusual step of isolating a specific amateur film medium as its object of study at the centre of a classic 'nature vs. nurture' debate. Arguing against a popular essentialist position which attributes the longevity of Super 8 to its unique, irreplaceable aesthetic, Kodak's Worst Nightmare proposes that Super 8 film has been a contested site in a social, cultural, political, and economic nexus where different agencies have appropriated the medium through the construction of discourses which have imposed their own meanings on the use and consumption of this cultural product. In an extraordinary cycle of subjugation, resistance and incorporation, this project finds that the meanings and potentials of Super 8 have been progressively colonised by differing institutions - firstly by Eastman Kodak ('domestic' Super 8), secondly by the alternative,independent film movement ('oppositional' Super 8 and 'indie' Super 8), and finally by the mainstream film and television industry ('professional' Super 8"). In an amazing contradiction, it is argued that Super 8 in its current incarnation has emerged as the exact opposite of Kodak's original discursive construction of its amateur status - it has become a professional medium for commercial production. Drawing together related work in the histories of domestic photography and communications technologies, and the cultural practice of everyday life, this project contributes to an area which is seriously undertheorised in the literature of film theory and cultural studies- the social, political and cultural role of amateur film technologies.
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McKenzie, Jordi. "An economic analysis of motion pictures in the Australian cinema industry, 1997-2000." Connect to full text, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1794.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Discipline of Economics, University of Sydney, [2006?].Title from title screen (viewed 27th June, 2007). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Discipline of Economics, University of Sydney. Degree awarded 2006?; thesis submitted 2005. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.
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Simpson, Catherine. "Imagined geographies: women's negotiation of space in contemporary Australian cinema, 1988-98." Thesis, Simpson, Catherine (2000) Imagined geographies: women's negotiation of space in contemporary Australian cinema, 1988-98. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2000. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/312/.
Full textAbstract:
Imagined Geographies: Women's Negotiation of Space in Contemporary Australian Cinema is an exploration of the nexus between gender and locale in films from the last decade, 1988-98. This thesis examines the way meaning is made through the negotiation of diverse geographies by central female protagonists in a selection of recent Australian feature films. The films I analyse were predominantly produced by female writers and/or directors.
In the context of Australian Cinema, locale is an area much talked about but little theorised. It is an issue which remains in the background of much scholarship and is often tangential to many arguments but rarely constructed as a central concern. Where it is foregrounded, as in Ross Gibson's work, it is reduced to the significance of landscape or 'natural locations' rather than examining the diversity of its manifestations.
Two notable but related spatial shifts have occurred in Australian cinema of the 1990s. The first is a change in industrial practice. Female artists are now creating spaces for themselves in mainstream feature filmmaking - spaces traditionally occupied by men. This trend is away from constructions of a distinctly feminist cinema or counter-cinema which was identifiable in the 1970s. Second, there is a shift in the character of on-screen space. The presence of growing numbers of women writers, directors and producers in the Australian film industry is shifting the cinema's focus away from traditional 'masculine' topographies - the pub, the prison and the outback - thus allowing explorations of other spaces and visions to develop. I am arguing therefore that there is a feminization ofspace occurring in Australian cinema.
In this thesis I investigate representations of so-called traditional 'feminine' or domestic domains. The place of the gendered body and embodiment in films is a central concern and is theorised in the first chapter. As we move through the thesis chapters, sexed bodies enacting gender in a variety of ways and in different zones - the car, the house, the suburb and the country town - will be explored. Through these analyses I examine the methods some film directors employ to problematize space in such a way that their work overcomes the limitations of its previously dominant representations. This thesis is primarily an attempt to open up the field of criticism to acknowledge the diversity of locales which exist within the rich tapestry of Australian Cinema.
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Simpson, Catherine. "Imagined geographies : women's negotiation of space in contemporary Australian cinema, 1988-98 /." Simpson, Catherine (2000) Imagined geographies: women's negotiation of space in contemporary Australian cinema, 1988-98. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2000. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/312/.
Full textAbstract:
Imagined Geographies: Women's Negotiation of Space in Contemporary Australian Cinema is an exploration of the nexus between gender and locale in films from the last decade, 1988-98. This thesis examines the way meaning is made through the negotiation of diverse geographies by central female protagonists in a selection of recent Australian feature films. The films I analyse were predominantly produced by female writers and/or directors.
In the context of Australian Cinema, locale is an area much talked about but little theorised. It is an issue which remains in the background of much scholarship and is often tangential to many arguments but rarely constructed as a central concern. Where it is foregrounded, as in Ross Gibson's work, it is reduced to the significance of landscape or 'natural locations' rather than examining the diversity of its manifestations.
Two notable but related spatial shifts have occurred in Australian cinema of the 1990s. The first is a change in industrial practice. Female artists are now creating spaces for themselves in mainstream feature filmmaking - spaces traditionally occupied by men. This trend is away from constructions of a distinctly feminist cinema or counter-cinema which was identifiable in the 1970s. Second, there is a shift in the character of on-screen space. The presence of growing numbers of women writers, directors and producers in the Australian film industry is shifting the cinema's focus away from traditional 'masculine' topographies - the pub, the prison and the outback - thus allowing explorations of other spaces and visions to develop. I am arguing therefore that there is a feminization ofspace occurring in Australian cinema.
In this thesis I investigate representations of so-called traditional 'feminine' or domestic domains. The place of the gendered body and embodiment in films is a central concern and is theorised in the first chapter. As we move through the thesis chapters, sexed bodies enacting gender in a variety of ways and in different zones - the car, the house, the suburb and the country town - will be explored. Through these analyses I examine the methods some film directors employ to problematize space in such a way that their work overcomes the limitations of its previously dominant representations. This thesis is primarily an attempt to open up the field of criticism to acknowledge the diversity of locales which exist within the rich tapestry of Australian Cinema.
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Barnett, Vanessa. "Tasha: A practice-based problematisation of Australian comedy cinema’s representation of gender, family and nationhood." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2014. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1411.
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Between 2007 and 2012, 140 fictional feature films were financed with the assistance of Australian film funding bodies. Of these 140 films, only 31 featured female protagonists and of these 31 films, only 8 were comedies (see Appendix B). These figures show statistically, Tasha, the creative film component of this research project, is not a typical Australian comedy film; it is the story of Tasha, an unemployed girl from Girrawheen in her early twenties, who has lost her sense of identity. As Australian films such as Little Fish¸ Candy, Jedda and Muriel’s Wedding would suggest, this is certainly not an uncommon premise in Australian national cinema. However, this is not all there is to know about Tasha; she is preoccupied, not by a love interest or by a drug addiction, but by ninjutsu, and vigilantism. This is where Tasha finds its unique approach to Australian cinema’s historic treatment of the woman-centred narrative. That said, beneath Tasha’s unconventional surface arguably lies a truly Australian comedy film.
The exegesis component of this project re-interprets Bazin’s question, “Qu'est-ce que le cinéma?” (What is cinema?), with a theoretical framework inspired by Australian film theorist Tom O’Regan’s influential text, Australian National Cinema. The exegesis begins by looking at Australian national cinema as a whole, then narrowing the focus to Australian comedy cinema. O’Regan (1996) describes Australian cinema as a national cinema; a cinema that embodies Australian culture, society and history. The focus is on Australian comedy film texts, and their social, political and cultural contexts. Tasha, the creative film project, is what O’Regan would term a “problematisation” of Australian comedy cinema.
The key argument of this project is that Australian national comedy films are uniquely Australian, cinematic explorations of individual identity, socio-cultural identity, landscape and family. Australia laughs about what it knows best, these four narrative and aesthetic preoccupations being central to Australian socio-cultural values and attitudes, to understanding the concept of Australianness. Australian comedy cinema is a problematic genre unto itself. The theoretical component of this project is a profile of Australian comedy cinema’s homogenised representation of Australianness. Tasha is then presented as an alternative. This investigation aims to both improve, and demonstrate an understanding of Australian comedy cinema as a problematisation of gender, culture, landscape, family and identity.
Tasha responds to the research question, “What is Australian comedy cinema?” by revealing that even an Australian action comedy with exciting stunts and fight scenes, is still a story of an individual’s sense of identity, family, and place. Such stories are arguably the hallmark of Australian comedy cinema; this carries a uniquely Australian sense of quirkiness. It remains the domain of the underdog: the battlers, larrikins, and of course the ockers. It still carries the same messages; never forget who you are, who your friends and family are, or where you came from. Despite its unconventional narrative, subject matter, soundtrack and aesthetics, Tasha proves to be no exception; it is still easily identified as a truly Australian comedy film.
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Rekhari, Suneeti School of Sociology & Anthropology UNSW. "Camera obscura: representations of indigenous identity within Australian cinema." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Sociology and Anthropology, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/25765.
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Karen Jennings (1993) and Peter Krausz (2003) in their works, written ten years apart, note the changing ways in which the academic world and the media have dealt with representations of Indigenous identity. It was hoped that the latter work would have been discussing the way in which things have already changed. The fact that it does not, initiates the questions addressed in this thesis: whether Australian cinema explores Indigenous issues in sufficient depth and with cultural resonance. Can a study of cinematic representations lead to a better understanding of Aboriginal identity? In representing Aboriginality on screen does the cinema present a representational complex for Indigenous Australia, which is constructed on their behalf by the cinema itself? In this thesis these questions are theoretically framed within a semiotic methodology, which is applied to the examination of the complexities of representation. This is done through an analysis of the connotations and stereotyping of Indigenous identity in filmic narratives; and the operation of narrative closure and myth making systems through historical time periods; and dualisms in the filmic narratives such as primitive/civilised, us/them, self/other; and the presence of Aboriginality as an absent signifier. The four films chosen for comparative analysis are Jedda, Night Cries, Walkabout and Rabbit Proof Fence. These films span a period of fifty years, which allows for an explication of the changes that have occurred over the passing of time in their visual representations of Aboriginal identity. Hence social and cultural filmic identity representations are juxtaposed with the historical and political discourses prevalent at the time of their production. Through such a detailed analysis of the four film texts, the dominant social discourses of Australia are analysed in relation to their operation as representational frameworks for Indigenous Australians.
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Lewis, Shane. "Orry-Kelly : an Australian in Hollywood : producing meaning through costume." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1997.
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Costume designer Orry-Kelly has a unique place in Hollywood history as one of the few designers to win three or more Academy Awards and one of the few Australians to succeed in
the Hollywood studio system. His work was a major factor in the success of Bette Davis at Warner Bros. However, Orry-Kelly and his work have received little critical attention.
This study examines the function of Orry-Kelly's costumes in a selection of Bette Davis vehicles produced at Warner Bros. between 1938 and 1942. In order to assess the value of Orry-Kelly's contributions, the thesis charts the development of the role of the Hollywood studio costume
designer and summarises theories relevant to the function of costume in classical Hollywood narrative.
Films analysed are Jezebel, Dark Victory, The Letter, The Little Foxes, Now, Voyager, The Great Lie and In This Our Life. Sources consulted for background to Orry-Kelly's life and career include records in the Orry-Kelly File in the Warner Bros. Archives at the University of Southern
California, and material gathered in Australia which has not been previously presented in an academic study.
The study concludes that Orry-Kelly's costume concepts display an intuitive understanding of processes of human perception and behaviour, and knowledge of the requirements of the film medium, to convey the preferred meanings about characters and aid in story-telling.
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Enders, Mark Enders Mark. "No laughing matter an exploration of the role of the protagonist in Australian feature films classified as social comedies /." Connect to this title online, 2004. http://adt.library.qut.edu.au/adt-qut/public/adt-QUT20050224.101747/.
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Crilly, Shane Alexander. "'Gods in our own world': representations of troubled and troubling masculinities in some Australian films, 1991-2001 /." Title page, table of contents and abstract only, 2004. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phc9291.pdf.
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Faithfull, Denise. "Adaptations : Australian literature to film, 1989-1998." Thesis, Connect to full text, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1771.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2001.Title from title screen (viewed January 22, 2009) Submitted in fullfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philososphy to the Dept. of English, University of Sydney. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.
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Faithfull, Denise. "Adaptations Australian literature to film, 1989-1998 /." Connect to full text, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/1771.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2001.Title from title screen (viewed January 22, 2009) Submitted in fullfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philososphy to the Dept. of English, University of Sydney. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.
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Thomas, David Glyndwr. "Extraordinary undercurrents: Australian cinema, genre and the everyday." Thesis, Thomas, David Glyndwr (2006) Extraordinary undercurrents: Australian cinema, genre and the everyday. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2006. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/344/.
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'Extraordinary Undercurrents: Australian Cinema, Genre and the Everyday' investigates how the critical uptake of genre-based cinema has been incorporated into the cultural and industrial rubric of Australian national cinema. The thesis offers, in part, a revaluation of theoretically under-emphasized texts (as well as texts that have been the subject of much higher levels of scrutiny), in order to establish recurrent threads within Australian cinema. In doing this, the thesis offers new and original knowledge in the form of developing a perspective for a revised critical and theoretical analysis of genre cinema within Australian cinema, challenging the presumption of the kinds of texts that can be seen as articulating the nation. The groups of films examined herein form nodes through which a network of important and divergent ideas about nation, national identity and social organization come together in the form of narrative and thematic undercurrents.
These (generally malevolent) undercurrents are articulated in the filmic representation of a range of conventional personal, social and cultural dichotomies, and of particular interest are the events, characters and narratives in which the everyday is confronted by the abstract, abject and uncanny. The undercurrents I identify are shown as the textual sites in which transgression - both inside and outside the frame - and intertextuality are collocated, representing the convergence of material which simultaneously operates outside of genres, while reinforcing textual similarity. The undercurrents I identify provide a theoretical direction in analysing interaction between national cinema, culture and identity.
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Thomas, David Glyndwr. "Extraordinary undercurrents : Australian cinema, genre and the everyday /." Thomas, David Glyndwr (2006) Extraordinary undercurrents: Australian cinema, genre and the everyday. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2006. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/344/.
Full textAbstract:
'Extraordinary Undercurrents: Australian Cinema, Genre and the Everyday' investigates how the critical uptake of genre-based cinema has been incorporated into the cultural and industrial rubric of Australian national cinema. The thesis offers, in part, a revaluation of theoretically under-emphasized texts (as well as texts that have been the subject of much higher levels of scrutiny), in order to establish recurrent threads within Australian cinema. In doing this, the thesis offers new and original knowledge in the form of developing a perspective for a revised critical and theoretical analysis of genre cinema within Australian cinema, challenging the presumption of the kinds of texts that can be seen as articulating the nation. The groups of films examined herein form nodes through which a network of important and divergent ideas about nation, national identity and social organization come together in the form of narrative and thematic undercurrents.
These (generally malevolent) undercurrents are articulated in the filmic representation of a range of conventional personal, social and cultural dichotomies, and of particular interest are the events, characters and narratives in which the everyday is confronted by the abstract, abject and uncanny. The undercurrents I identify are shown as the textual sites in which transgression - both inside and outside the frame - and intertextuality are collocated, representing the convergence of material which simultaneously operates outside of genres, while reinforcing textual similarity. The undercurrents I identify provide a theoretical direction in analysing interaction between national cinema, culture and identity.
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Owen, Richard. "Motion picture production : A micro-budget model." Thesis, Federation University Australia, 2016. http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/159080.
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The film industry plays an important cultural and economic role in Australia. However, the film industry in Australia has struggled for many years under a subsidy-driven government intervention process that creates a high degree of dependence on a subsidy-centric model. Motion picture production costs worldwide have risen dramatically over the last decade with Hollywood production budgets commonly exceeding $100 million. Australia as a nation has a proven capability to produce respectable motion pictures at varying production budgets, although this capacity has become entrenched with taxpayers’ money. Historically, subsidy-driven industries in Australia trend towards collapse due primarily to cyclical fiscal deficits and changing funding imperatives at the Commonwealth level. As a PhD by exegesis, the focus of this research was to create, as well as evaluate, a new model of film production that would not be dependent on subsidies. This study evaluated a number of factors that were relevant to establishing a viable micro-budget model. Micro-budget films have received little research attention, with the focus being on major films. This research examined an alternative model, through the creation of a feature-length micro-budget film, called Stakes, and assessed it across a range of criterion to determine whether Australia’s film industry could be strengthened and potentially become self-sufficient. The resulting motion picture premièred in Australian cinemas on October 29th 2015. The justification, methods and results are discussed in detail throughout this exegesis providing strong evidence in favour of the viability for a micro-budget segment in the Australian film industry. Such a model could reduce the risk of Australia’s film industry collapsing if subsidies are reduced or abolished. Thus, this research has significant implications for Australia’s film industry and also contributes strongly to scholarship through providing crucial information on micro-budget films.Doctor of Philosophy
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Slavin, John. "Lost causes : the ideology of national identity in Australian cinema /." [Melbourne : University of Melbourne, 2002. http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000297.
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Rossiter, Craig. "The factors that drive success in motion picture development : an Australian context." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2003. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/15891/1/Craig_Rossiter_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
The motion picture industry is characterized by a high degree of artistic innovation that revolves around the project rather than the firm. Success is elusive and firms operate in an environment of symmetrical ignorance, that is, high levels of demand uncertainty as well as product uncertainty. This makes managing the commercial development of new products difficult. The study of the factors that drive success in new product development have been significant, however, little attention has been given to experiential and creatively driven products such as motion pictures. While a number of studies have attempted to find accurate means to predict performance in motion pictures, most of these have met with limited results, yet few, if any, have linked the knowledge gained from the study of new product development with the industry. Similarly, the impact of market orientation on firm performance and new product success has been the focus of much empirical research since the late 1980's and has been shown to be significantly associated with new product performance. Here, the marketing literature and the NPD literature converge, yet few studies have attempted to study how the same concepts might apply in motion picture production. The primary focus of this study was to explore the feasibility of the NPD and market orientation literature in the development of successful motion picture and whether or not similar application of this knowledge is tenable. As such, the study centers around two broad research issues: RESEARCH ISSUE 1: How can Australian films perform better? In other words, what are the factors that drive success in Australian motion picture production? RESEARCH ISSUE 2: What is the role of the audience in the development of successful Motion Pictures in Australia? Or in other words, do Australian filmmakers need to be "close" to their audience (market oriented) in order to attain higher levels of success. Australia has been used as a context primarily due to the accessibility of data. This represents a relatively new setting for the study of NPD and market orientation and a new industry. Therefore, an exploratory study was designed which utilized in-depth interviews with experts from three sectors of the Australian motion picture industry. This was deemed to be the best approach given the dearth of previous studies in this setting and the fact that the majority of past industry studies have been quantitative. The findings reveal some support for a significant relationship between success and new product development activities such as product advantage, market orientation, up-front homework, early product definition, cross-functional and coordinated teams, and launch. Product advantage, however, is better understood in terms of a movie's marketability and playability, that is, the perceived superiority of its attributes before and after its viewing. A market orientation is likely to be more effective in the motion picture industry when it helps a firm lead its customers rather than encourages a firm to be led by them. Finally, despite previous studies in the Australian industry, the number of scripts in development is unlikely to matter. What matters is that the scripts that are ready to move into production are evaluated fully and that full support is provided to those that make it through in order to give them the best chance for success.
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Rossiter, Craig. "The Factors That Drive Success in Motion Picture Development : An Australian Context." Queensland University of Technology, 2003. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/15891/.
Full textAbstract:
The motion picture industry is characterized by a high degree of artistic innovation that revolves around the project rather than the firm. Success is elusive and firms operate in an environment of symmetrical ignorance, that is, high levels of demand uncertainty as well as product uncertainty. This makes managing the commercial development of new products difficult. The study of the factors that drive success in new product development have been significant, however, little attention has been given to experiential and creatively driven products such as motion pictures. While a number of studies have attempted to find accurate means to predict performance in motion pictures, most of these have met with limited results, yet few, if any, have linked the knowledge gained from the study of new product development with the industry. Similarly, the impact of market orientation on firm performance and new product success has been the focus of much empirical research since the late 1980's and has been shown to be significantly associated with new product performance. Here, the marketing literature and the NPD literature converge, yet few studies have attempted to study how the same concepts might apply in motion picture production. The primary focus of this study was to explore the feasibility of the NPD and market orientation literature in the development of successful motion picture and whether or not similar application of this knowledge is tenable. As such, the study centers around two broad research issues: RESEARCH ISSUE 1: How can Australian films perform better? In other words, what are the factors that drive success in Australian motion picture production? RESEARCH ISSUE 2: What is the role of the audience in the development of successful Motion Pictures in Australia? Or in other words, do Australian filmmakers need to be "close" to their audience (market oriented) in order to attain higher levels of success. Australia has been used as a context primarily due to the accessibility of data. This represents a relatively new setting for the study of NPD and market orientation and a new industry. Therefore, an exploratory study was designed which utilized in-depth interviews with experts from three sectors of the Australian motion picture industry. This was deemed to be the best approach given the dearth of previous studies in this setting and the fact that the majority of past industry studies have been quantitative. The findings reveal some support for a significant relationship between success and new product development activities such as product advantage, market orientation, up-front homework, early product definition, cross-functional and coordinated teams, and launch. Product advantage, however, is better understood in terms of a movie's marketability and playability, that is, the perceived superiority of its attributes before and after its viewing. A market orientation is likely to be more effective in the motion picture industry when it helps a firm lead its customers rather than encourages a firm to be led by them. Finally, despite previous studies in the Australian industry, the number of scripts in development is unlikely to matter. What matters is that the scripts that are ready to move into production are evaluated fully and that full support is provided to those that make it through in order to give them the best chance for success.
29
Li, Jian. "Film Dialogue Translation And The Intonation Unit : Towards Equivalent Effect In English And Chinese." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1999. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1480.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis proposes a new approach to film dialogue translation (FDT) with special reference to the translation process and quality of English-to-Chinese dubbing. In response to the persistent translation failures that led to widespread criticism of dubbed films and TV plays in China for their artificial 'translation talk', this study provides a pragmatic methodology derived from the integration of the theories and analytical systems of information flow in the tradition of the functionalist approach to speech and writing with the relevant theoretical and empirical findings from TS and other related branches of linguistics. It has developed and validated a translation model (FITNIATS) which makes the intonation unit (IU) the central unit of film dialogue translation. Arguing that any translation which treats dubbing as a simple script-to-script process, without transferring the prosodic properties of the spoken words into the commensurate functions of TL, is incomplete, the thesis demonstrates that, in order to reduce confusion and loss of meaning/rhythm, the SL dialogue should be rendered in the IUs with the stressed syllables well-timed in TL to keep the corresponding information foci in sync with the visual message. It shows that adhering to the sentence-to-sentence formula as the translation metastrategy with the information structure of the original film dialogue permuted can result in serious stylistic as well as communicative problems. Five key theoretical issues in TS are addressed in the context of FDT, viz., the relations between micro-structure and macro-structure translation perspectives, foreignizing vs. domesticating translation, the unit of translation, the levels of translation equivalence and the criteria for evaluating translation quality. lf equivalent effect is to be achieved in all relevant dimensions, it is argued that 'FITness criteria' need to be met in film translation assessment, and four such criteria arc proposed. This study demonstrates that prosody and word order, as sensitive indices of the information flow which occurs in film dialogue through the creation and perception of meaning, can provide a basis for minimizing cross-linguistic discrepancies and compensating for loss of the FIT functions, especially where conflicts arise between the syntactic and/or medium constraints and the adequate transfer of cultural-specific content and style. The implications of the model for subtitling arc also made explicit.
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Pascoe, Caroline. "Screening mothers representations of motherhood in Australian films from 1900 to 1988 /." Connect to full text, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/385.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 1999.Title from title screen (viewed Apr. 16, 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of History, Faculty of Arts. Degree awarded 1999; thesis submitted 1998. Includes bibliography. Also available in print form.
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Scodari, Christine Ann. "The rhetoric of mass intercultural identification : a Burkeian study of the new Australian film industry /." The Ohio State University, 1985. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487263399027217.
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Cork, Kevin James, of Western Sydney Nepean University, and Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. "Twenty-four miles around Nelungaloo : the history and importance of cinema exhibition in pre-television times to a country area of central-western New South Wales." THESIS_FHSS_XXX_Cork_K.xml, 1994. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/684.
Full textAbstract:
Little research into historical, architectural and social significance of the picture theatre in pre-television rural Australian society has been undertaken. Taking a New South Wales country area (to represent a microcosm), this thesis records the picture venues and qualitative research material from past patrons and theatre staff. The study 1/. establishes the environment created by a picture theatre 2/. shows that New South Wales was typical of Australia in film attendance before the 1960s 3/. introduces the Central-West subject area, and describes how data was gathered from available records 4/. shows the development of the picture venues within the subject areas 5/. gives 'life' to the occasion formerly associated with going to the pictures 6/. suggests the success ot the rural picture shows was a happy co-incidence: the exhibitors' desire to make money and the patrons' desire for a social experience (and entertainment). A recommendation is made that one of the venues discovered during the course of research should be investigated for heritage listing. It is important that we should acknowledge the vital part that going to the pictures once played in pre-television days, especially in rural areasMaster of Arts (Hons)
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Forscher, Helene. "Animals in the landscape : an analysis of the role of the animal image in representations of identity in selected Australian feature films from 1971 to 2001 /." Gold Coast, Queensland : Bond University, 2007. http://epublications.bond.edu.au/theses/forscher.
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Thesis (PhD) -- Bond University, 2007."A dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy"-- t.p. Bibliography: leaves 266-281. Also available via the World Wide Web.
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Fawns, Kathleen Mary. "Mater Hill : a screenplay." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1999.
Find full textAbstract:
Mater Hill is loosely based on a true story. Liz has always craved and been denied her mother's love. After several years of trauma caused by losing her mother in a boarding house fire, she discovers that arson was involved and investigates, seeking justice. When she mediates with her mother's killer, she effects an emotional substitution. They fall in love and she persuades him to help her convict the main culprit. Even before the trial fails, she begins to reject him, psychologically completing the process of her own separation and individuation. Once Liz has this stronger sense of self, she can experience real compassion for the arsonist.
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McLoughlin, Aaron. "Gravy." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2012. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/50947/1/Aaron_McLoughlin_Thesis.pdf.
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To many aspiring writer/directors of feature film breaking into the industry may be perceived as an insurmountable obstacle. In contemplating my own attempt to venture into the world of feature filmmaking I have reasoned that a formulated strategy could be of benefit. As the film industry is largely concerned with economics I decided that writing a relatively low-cost feature film may improve my chances of being allowed directorship by a credible producer. As a result I have decided to write a modest feature film set in a single interior shooting location in an attempt to minimise production costs, therefore also attempting to reduce the perceived risk in hiring the writer as debut director.
As a practice-led researcher, the primary focus of this research is to create a screenplay in response to my greater directorial aspirations and to explore the nature in which the said strategic decision to write a single-location film impacts on not only the craft of cinematic writing but also the creative process itself, as it pertains to the project at hand.
The result is a comedy script titled Gravy, which is set in a single apartment and strives to maintain a fast comedic pace whilst employing a range of character and plot devices in conjunction with creative decisions that help to sustain cinematic interest within the confines of the apartment. In addition to the screenplay artifact, the exegesis also includes a section that reflects on the writing process in the form of personal accounts, decisions, problems and solutions as well as examination of other author’s works.
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Kagan, Michal Lali. "Wonderer : the life of Bruce Chatwin." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2002.
Find full textAbstract:
Wonderer is a screenplay about the life of writer/traveler Bruce Chatwin. The screenplay examines not only Chatwin's travels and writing, but also the landscape which he never
fully explored: his inner-world. This reflective analysis will focus on the relationship between Bruce Chatwin's writing - especially in The Songlines- and the ways in which the book's subject matter and style influenced the choices in content and form which I made in writing Wonderer.
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Watson, Robert Stewart. "Richard Rorty, innovation strategies & movie inspiration." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2010. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/41465/1/Robert_Watson_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Movie innovation is a conversation between screenwriters and producers in our mixed economy – a concept of innovation supported by Richard Rorty and Aristole's Poetics. During innovation conversations, inspired writers describe fresh movie actions to empathetic producers. Some inspired actions may confuse. Writers and producers use strategies to inquire about confusing actions. This Australian study redescribes 25 writer-producer strategies in the one place for the first time. It adds a new strategy. And, with more evidence than the current literature, it investigates writer inspiration, which drives film innovation. It reports inspiration in pioneering, verifiable detail.
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Truter, Victoria Zea. "Dreamscape and death : an analysis of three contemporary novels and a film." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012976.
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With its focus on the relationship between dreamscape and death, this study examines the possibility of indirectly experiencing – through writing and dreaming – that which cannot be directly experienced, namely death. In considering this possibility, the thesis engages at length with Maurice Blanchot's argument that death, being irrevocably absent and therefore unknowable, is not open to presentation or representation. After explicating certain of this thinker's theories on the ambiguous nature of literary and oneiric representation, and on the forfeiture of subjective agency that occurs in the moments of writing and dreaming, the study turns to an examination of the manner in which such issues are dealt with in selected dreamscapes. With reference to David Malouf's An Imaginary Life, Alan Warner's These Demented Lands, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, and Richard Linklater's Waking Life, the thesis explores the literary and cinematic representation of human attempts to define, resist, or control death through dreaming and writing about it. Ultimately, the study concludes that such attempts are necessarily inconclusive, and that it is only ever possible to represent death as a (mis)representation.
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Emerson, John James. "The representation of the colonial past in French and Australian cinema, from 1970 to 2000 / by John James Emerson." 2002. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phe536.pdf.
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Includes filmography: leaves 252-256. Bibliography: leaves 241-251. This thesis compares the representation of colonial history in the cinema of France and Australia since 1970. Films examined all had historical colonial settings, a narrative focus principally on aspects of the colonisation process and a director who was descended from former colonisers. It concludes that there are few sustained attempts to confront and resolve the problematic aspects of colonialism's legacy. The tendency to contain the representation of the colonial past within a fictional framework has the inevitable consequence of masking history and avoiding the necessity for dealing with it.
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Crilly, Shane. "'Gods in our own world': representations of troubled and troubling masculinities in some Australian films, 1991-2001." Thesis, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/37939.
Full textAbstract:
The dominance of male characters in Australian films makes our national cinema a rich resource for the examination of the construction of masculinities. This thesis argues that the codes of the hegemonic masculinities in capitalist patriarchal societies like Australia insist on an absolute masculine position. However, according to Oedipal logic, this position always belongs to another man. Masculine yet 'feminised,'identity is fraught with anxiety but sustained by the 'dominant fiction' that equates the penis with the phallus and locates the feminine as its polar opposite. This binary relationship is inaugurated in childhood when a boy must distinguish his identity from his mother, who, significantly, is a different gender. Being masculine means not being feminine. However, as much as men strive towards inhabiting the masculine position completely, this masquerade will always be exposed by the elements associated with femininity that are an inevitable part of the human experience. Yet, the more men are drawn to the feminine, the more they risk losing their masculine integrity altogether under the patriarchal gaze. Men, in this dualistic regime, are condemned to negotiate their identity haunted by the promises of the phallus and the fear of its loss. I begin with a model of masculine integrity represented in the image of an ideal father, Darryl Kerrigan, from The Castle and then proceed to problematise it through an examination of its excesses observed in the father of David Helfgott in Shine. In the second chapter I investigate two films that represent mothers as the principal threat to masculine integrity: Death in Brunswick and Proof. Both films reveal a misogynistic impetus, which is expressed as violence against women in The Boys, the sole focus of my middle chapter. With misogyny and violence still resonating, I follow the contours of my argument through an examination of Chopper and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in the fourth chapter, where I emphasise the performative nature of identity, before arriving at a discussion of men and their relationships in the final chapter (Mullet, Praise, and Thank God He Met Lizzie).Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Humanities, 2004.
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Johinke, Rebecca Jane. "Blokes and cars : the construction of masculinities in Australian film / Rebecca Jane Johinke." Thesis, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/114413.
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This thesis examines the construction of masculinities in the genre of Australian film known as 'car crash' films. A number of film texts are used to examine how representations of vehicular masculinity are validated and how heroism is often associated with mastery of a motor vehicle. It contends that gender-technology relation constructs technology as masculine culture, the automobile often pivotal in rites of passage and manifestations of masculinity because other means to perform adulthood and gender are frequently unattainable. Membership of the masculine hegemony can appear within reach when behind the wheel of a 'hot' automobile that signifies power, freedom, escape, conspicuous consumption and control. The male characters in car crash films look to the streets and to the screen to enact blatent constructions of an overt mechanical masculinity, and the performative journey is mapped.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of English, 2002
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Hopgood, Fincina Elizabeth. "From affliction to empathy: melodrama and mental illness in recent films from Australia and New Zealand." 2006. http://repository.unimelb.edu.au/10187/2859.
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The subject matter of mental illness has fascinated artists and writers for centuries. Filmmakers have responded in diverse and innovative ways to the artistic challenge of portraying mental illness. In this thesis, I focus on the representations of mental illness in six recent films from Australia and New Zealand: Sweetie (Jane Campion, 1989), An Angel at My Table (Campion, 1990), Bad Boy Bubby (Rolf de Heer, 1993), Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson, 1994), Angel Baby (Michael Rymer, 1995) and Shine (Scott Hicks, 1996). In each film, the protagonist is diagnosed, or treated by others, as mentally ill. Mental illness is portrayed as an affliction which the protagonist struggles to overcome. I argue that these films cultivate a relationship of empathy between the mentally ill character and the spectator. Whereas the related emotion of sympathy involves feeling sorry for someone, empathy involves feeling with that person; in other words, rather than feel for these mentally ill characters, we are invited to feel like they do. (For complete abstract open document)
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Bryson, Ian. "Bringing to light : a history of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Film Unit." Master's thesis, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/144491.
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Peters-Little, Frances. "The return of the noble savage by popular demand : a study of Aboriginal television documentary in Australia." Master's thesis, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/110389.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis, entitled The Return of the Noble Savage: By Popular Demand, is written after
several years of being an avid Aboriginal television watcher, filmmaker, and activist. It is
based on research on a neglected topic and in response to the consistent attack from well-meaning
critics, in an attempt to argue for the complexity of the meanings generated on
television, and for the rights of the individual filmmaker in representation.
In myth-making about Australian Aborigines there has been a consistent paradigm of
opposing poles-noble and savage, good blacks and bad blacks, primitive and civilised, real
and unreal. Oscillating between these two poles are all kinds of imaginings of Aboriginal
identity, politics and desires for truthful representation.
When early documentary filmmakers began to film Aborigines they disregarded the
Aboriginal audience, and spoke rather to themselves and to white audiences whom, for all
kinds of reasons, they wanted to inform about Aborigines. In contrast, there are in the
Australian television industry today many more Aboriginal people making films than there
have ever been, and a greater recognition of the existence of Aboriginal television audiences.
Aboriginal filmmakers have been backed by a history of radical politics and by the efforts of
non-Aboriginal filmmakers.
The recent marriage between Aboriginal filmmakers and mainstream television has been
neglected by most commentators and scholars. Critics ignore the efforts and progress made
by mainstream television and documentary filmmakers. They have written about television
without making references to Aborigines; and they have written about Aborigines without
making reference to television. This is startling when one considers the invisibility of
Aborigines before television, and the difference television has made.
The thesis also addresses the problem that in the current climate, new pressures being brought
to bear on filmmakers making documentary films on Aboriginal topics. Because they do not
take into account the nature of filmmaking, or the rights of individual filmmakers, these
pressures are infringing upon the rights not only of white but also Aboriginal filmmakers.
This pressure has swung the pendulum from savage to noble imagery, the latter of which is
just as unrealistic and untrue as the former. It also requires Aboriginal audiences and
filmmakers to protect and uphold a particular vision of Aboriginality, and denies them the
right to critique and defend themselves.
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Hooton, Fiona Art History & Art Education College of Fine Arts UNSW. "The impact of the counterculture on Australian cinema in the mid to late 20th century." 2007. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/41008.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis discusses the impact of the counterculture on Australian cinema in the late 20thcentury through the work of the Sydney Underground Film group, Ubu. This group, active between 1965 -1970, was a significant part of an underground counter culture, to which many young Australians subscribed. As a group, Ubu was more than a rat bag assemblage of University students. It was an antipodean aspect of an ongoing artistic and political movement that began with the European avant-garde at the beginning of the 20th century and that radically transformed artistic conventions in theatre, painting, literature, photography and film. Three purposes underpin this thesis: firstly to track the art historical links between a European avant-garde heritage and Ubu. Experimental film is a genre that is informed by cross art form interrelations between theatre, painting, literature, photography and film and the major modernist aesthetic philosophies of the last century. Ubu's revolutionary aesthetic approaches included political resistance and the involvement of audiences in the production of art. Their creative wellspring drew from: Alfred Jarry, Dadaism, Surrealism, Futurism, Fluxus, Conceptual and Pop art. This cross fertilization between the arts is critical to understanding not only the Australian experimental movement but the history of contemporary image making. The second purpose is to fill a current void of research about early Australian Experimental film. This is a significant gap given it was a national movement with many international connections. The counterculture movement also contains many major figures in Australian art history. These individuals played their parts in the Sydney Push, Oz magazine and the activities of the Yellow House and have since become important multi arts practitioners and commentators. Thirdly, the thesis attempts to evaluate Ubu's political and social agenda for the democratization of film appreciation through their objectives of: production, exhibition, distribution and debate of experimental film both nationally and internationally. Ultimately the group would succeed in these objectives and in winning the war on repressive censorship laws. Their influence has informed the practice of many of Australia's current film heavy weights. Two key films have been selected for analysis, It Droppeth as the Gentle Rain (1963) and Newsfront (1978). The first looks forward to Ubu's contemporary practices and political agenda while the second demonstrates their longer term influences on mainstream cinema.
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Cork, Kevin J. "Twenty-four miles around Nelungaloo : the history and importance of cinema exhibition in pre-television times to a country area of central-western New South Wales." Thesis, 1994. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/684.
Full textAbstract:
Little research into historical, architectural and social significance of the picture theatre in pre-television rural Australian society has been undertaken. Taking a New South Wales country area (to represent a microcosm), this thesis records the picture venues and qualitative research material from past patrons and theatre staff. The study 1/. establishes the environment created by a picture theatre 2/. shows that New South Wales was typical of Australia in film attendance before the 1960s 3/. introduces the Central-West subject area, and describes how data was gathered from available records 4/. shows the development of the picture venues within the subject areas 5/. gives 'life' to the occasion formerly associated with going to the pictures 6/. suggests the success ot the rural picture shows was a happy co-incidence: the exhibitors' desire to make money and the patrons' desire for a social experience (and entertainment). A recommendation is made that one of the venues discovered during the course of research should be investigated for heritage listing. It is important that we should acknowledge the vital part that going to the pictures once played in pre-television days, especially in rural areas
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Nelligan, Pariece. "Walking the vocational tightrope : narratives of aspiration, creativity and precarious labour." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.7/uws:34885.
Full textAbstract:
The aim of this research is to explore the idea of the disembedded, creative, unencumbered neo-liberal subject. I explore this within the context of the creative industries and the creative career, firstly because creative workers exemplify a move away from traditional notions of career to more informal precarious and intermittent employment, secondly because they are said to be ‘iconic’ in terms of the new economy (Gill, 2002; Leadbeater and Oakley, 1999; Ross, 2007) and thirdly because the biographical patterns of creative workers and creative careers reflect the structural force of postmodern, reflexive modernity. This thesis investigates the degree to which the guiding ideas and institutional features of modernity and the industrial era (class, gender, family, community) continue to govern the lives of aspiring film and television workers. Beck (1992), Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002) and Giddens (1991) for example, argue that the features of traditional life no longer hold sway, and that people’s identities are now reflexively constructed. However, this research finds that there are residual effects of class and gender that continue to shape the biographical narratives and identities of working-class creative aspirants. By conducting a series of semi-structured life history interviews and through participant observation and narrative analysis, this thesis argues that class and gender norms continue to operate at the heart of society and specifically creative work, and that these norms have the capacity to guide people’s trajectories and sense of self.
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Karam, Beschara. "Putting a future into film : cultural policy studies, the Arts and Culture Task Group and Film Reference Group (1980-1997)." Thesis, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/6155.
Full textAbstract:
Cultural policy studies, or studies in the relations of government and culture (Mercer, 1994) were initiated in Australia in the 1980s, where cultural studies have been reinterpreted into a dialogue of policy-making and cooperation between the government and academia (Cunningham, 1994; Hunter, 1993/1994; Molloy, 1994; Santamaria, 1994). This Australian-pioneered "cultural policy moment" (Cunningham 1994; Hawkins, 1994) thus provides an epistemological starting point for an analysis of cultural policy developments in South Africa, especially after 1994. Early South
African cultural policy studies tend to draw from the Australian experience (Tomaselli and Shepperson, 1996). It must be noted that in terms of South African film policy analysis, there have been two cultural policy moments, one that addresses film post World War II to 1991, a period that is generally characterised as a "cinema of apartheid" (Tomaselli, 1989). This period is indebted to the seminal work of Keyan Tomaselli and Martin Botha. The second cultural policy moment begins in 1991 and continues to the present. It is this "moment" that informs the research and critical focus of the ways in which cultural studies in South Africa have modified the foundation of its critical position towards the state in response to developments since 1990. The aim of this thesis is to critically examine the ways in which South African cultural studies have responded to the Australian "cultural policy moment" in terms of academic-state relations, and the impact of discussions that were engaged in by various film organisations on film policy after 1990, and which resulted in the written proposals on film submitted to the Arts and Culture Task Group in 1994 and 1995. The Arts and Culture Task Group was the
case study within which the notion of cultural policy was studied, along with the White Paper on Film. This thesis draws on and applies a variety of methods: firstly, there is the participatory research: I was employed by ACTAG to undertake research into film policy. My own experience of the process in which I worked very closely with the film sub-committee provides an "insider" account of assumptions, conflicts, practices and how outcomes were reached. I was also designated, along with Professor Tomaselli and Dr Botha, as one of the co-authors of the White Paper, and was thus part of the
process of revising the ACTAG recommendations into draft legislation. Secondly, there is the method of comparative study: this thesis initially draws on the Australian cultural studies and film policy on the one hand, and South African cultural studies and film policy on the other. It then evolves into a critique of the "cultural policy moment" (Cunningham, 1994; Hawkins, 1994) as it related to the development of South African film policy between 1991 and 1997. Lastly, there was the empirical investigation: ACTAG, which was established to counsel Dr Ben Ngubane on the formulation of policy for the newly established government (see Chapter Four of this thesis, and see
Karam, 1996), served as a case study. The final ACTAG document resulted in a reformulated arts and culture dispensation consistent with the new Constitution. This process in turn led to the origination and publication of the Government of National Unity's White Paper on Film in May 1996. Incorporated into this analysis was an "information trawl" (Given, 1994; Mercer, 1994 and Santamaria, 1994) of prior and extant policy frameworks and assumptions of various film, cultural and media organizations formulated during the period under review. The link between film and culture, and hence film and cultural policy, emerges from the following two commonplace associations: firstly, that film as a form of visual creation is therefore a form of art; and secondly, that the concepts of art and culture are inextricably connected. What drives the present debate is the Australian appropriations of Raymond Williams's description of culture as "a whole way of life". This, while validly dissolving the early-twentieth century identification of culture with "high" or "canonical" forms of traditional literature, sculpture, or painting, none the less leaves theorists with a "distinct fuzziness" (Johnson, 1979) as to what the term "culture" actually denotes. Australian policy studies' approaches tend to focus on culture as personifying a
structure of "livability" under terms of employment, environmental concerns, and urban planning (Cunningham, 1994; Hawkins, 1994). In general, however, the focus has only attained any concrete outcomes when research has resuscitated precisely the link between culture and the arts, thereby drawing on the old polemics of "high" versus "low" and "popular" culture. The individual chapters cover the following topics: the Introductory Chapter provides a general historical overview of the South African film subsidization system, a crucial element of the analytical framework, from its inception in 1956 to it's dissolvement in the 1980s; Chapter Two, "Cultural Policy" deals with the origination and development of the concept of "cultural policy"; Chapter Three focuses on the Australian "cultural policy moment" and it's application to film; Chapters Four and Five deal with the ACTAG Film Sub-committee and the White Paper on Film respectively; and the last chapter, Chapter Six critiques these processes and their resulting documents, as case studies, from a cultural policy standpoint.Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1997.